A group of racers and track promoters felt there was a need for an organization in middle America that would operate more with their interests in mind, and so a group of 12 racers contributed financially to enable the establishment of K.A.R.T. Those people are (more or less alphabetically): Ted Alexander, Bernie Baldus, Gregg Baldus, Linda and Mike Baldus, Blake Blanco, Jim Edgington, Rick Rayburn, Jim Russell, Jim Russell Jr., Felton Stroud, and Rocco Verlengiere. They are Lifetime Charter Members of K.A.R.T.
One of the main items concerning the racers was stability of rules, and that is why in K.A.R.T. there are very few rule changes and then primarily only every two years. One annual meeting is held in the fall where the Board of Directors go over the past year’s statistics and performance, but for the most part except for safety, rules are not changed unless it is a “rules’ change year”. Some of the objectives of K.A.R.T. have been to foster strong and fair competition, provide reasonable rules for the competition and administer the competition program with impartiality, and to provide as safe of an environment as possible for a racing sport. K.A.R.T-sanctioned tracks base their rules from the K.A.R.T. Tech Guide.
K.A.R.T.’s primary focus is on the Mid America Road Race Series (MARRS). This series holds 7 to 8 races a year which are usually two-day (Saturday and Sunday) events, and the National Championships’ event which is usually 3 days, adding Friday to the schedule.
Road racing, or enduro kart racing, is done on road courses from one to four miles in length such as Hallett (OK) Motor Racing Circuit, Lake Afton (KS) and Lake Garnett (KS), Miller Motorsports Park (UT), Motorsports Park Hastings (NE), Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, Laguna Seca (CA), Virginia International Raceway and Daytona International Speedway (FL). Drivers from 8 years of age to 70+ compete in races running from 20 minutes to 45 minutes in length. Both sit-up and lay-down chassis are used and speeds are generally from 50 m.p.h. to 100 plus m.p.h., depending on the driver’s age, experience and equipment variables. The weekend schedule is usually arranged so that racers can run the same equipment on both days of the event.
Karting is an excellent training for drivers wanting to pursue higher forms of racing as a career and many kart racers have gone on to professional car racing such as SCCA, Indycar, NASCAR, and Formula 1. In fact when watching F1 on television you will often hear Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton refer to their days of karting with great fondness. While we love that about karting, the primary emphasis of K.A.R.T. is on the camaraderie and family atmosphere of kart racing.
If you’d like further information about kart racing please contact the K.A.R.T. office @ 918-283-1877.
